New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1887-03-30
HrpNOTIC SUGGESTION

A dispatch from Chicago In yesterdays lRibUNh
- ON. particulars of n curious case which is
attracting much attention there. a man named
Wirth disappeared. and foul play was snspcc'ed'
Ope Jacob Kuebler was arrested Oh suspicion. lie
having been seen in Wifth's company shortly De-
fore fhe latter disappeared Nothing being iound 10
confirm this suspicion Kuebler was released after
sryerul days. Then one day he entered the ioHco
lotion and speaking like a IN his sleep. stated
that the body Of the murdered man was In certain
ali, held down by logs. The rolce. who regarded
Vrob,,r "a crank. paid little attention TO what he
oid I'm, next day some detectives thought II worth
rbiIs to test tho matter. and they searched the
water of the slip Tie result was surprising. a
odv was indeed found there, but 1t was not that oil
the man they were looking for. IL proved TO be tho
cornse of one Hansen. who had also disappeared but
n few DAYS later than Wirth OF course the first
.rcoes,iou would have been. had the body been
mat Of With that Kueblor know it was there be
cause he put it there; that the discovery IN TACT
went far TO connect him with the murder But
since Kuebler was right rs to body being In the
slip. vet wrong to the identity Of that body. the
,beorv Of his guilt involves the assumption that he
murdered Hansen as well as Wirth and even thon
there /, no conceivable explanation Of his'vonnteer
IN information curiousy twisted and defective.
vet accurate to 30 startling an extent.
Kuebler naturally declares his innocence and
o,ves arrange confused account of the ay he re-
ce,ved the impression that body lay in Ogden
Slim He saws he was sitting at DINER when sud
denly he seemed TO see IA picture on the tablecloth
before him, and this picture was u representation
of the body lying on the mud at the bottom OF the
slip. He thought it must be Wirth because his
head was full Of the latter aud he knew nothing
bout Hansen. He adds that he continues to feel
it impressed him that Wrth's body is in the
same slip. in this there is room for much spec
uAtioh, but it is clear that all the possible physical
theories ought to DO exhausted before beginning
upon psychical ones. Thus for example the Kuobler
stories ray be explained on the Imposition that il
not himself participant in the mnrdor Of With
OF Hansen or both, Kueblcr may be q member OF
some gang which committed both crimes, and so
may have obtained know Lodge Of them II. how
ever, all such theories fail that of hypnotic suygcs-
lion may be resorted TO. But 1t must DO obsery we'd
that this related does not appear TO be such
a one as the French physicians have been study
ing with such remarkable results 1t has been
found that o hypDotizod person who is ye
land this is most essential point may have i'm
pressed upon his mind the suggestion OF something
either already done or TO be done at future speci
fed time and that on awakening the patient will
in the case believe that he has done whatever
was 40 impressed upon him. and in the other case
will proceed to do what ii was in Pressed OH him
that be should do. and at the exact time wiled by
the operator.
Now this Is not what Is supposed to have occurred
in the KueLer cass IL Is thought that the actual
murderer may have unc0nsciously impressed upon
a sensitive mind, unconsciousiy hypnotizod. the
picture of the body lying in the Ogden Sip. But
this would not he hypnotic suggestion nor Is there
any other phenomenon bnt that of thought-trans-
ference which would explain it. In clairvoyanco
the patient may be led 10 see places known 10 the
operator. or may see places quite unknown to tue
latter. In this case tho theory that tho actual
murderer uncoDsciously conveyed the mental pic
ture TO Kuebers brain is traversed by the fact that
the body really not that of Wrth. If IN
deed We suppose that Hansen also was killed by
Wirth's murderer the circumstance 10 less perpex-
ing though even then we must remember that
Kuebler WAS impressed to believe that he
VAS looking at WIrth's remains. But there are no
instances Of Observation-Disclosures without con-
scious effort either side though 1t cannot be said
that the thing is impossible Ii is evdenr tina. the
Chicago authorities who have started tho hypnotic
theory In this case have not much acquaintance
with morbid Psychology. and that they are apt TO
eonfound different phenomena There 10 much that